The disclosed embodiments relate to physical therapy devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments are related to canes or devices to aid in walking.
Many people have occasion during their lives where personal mobility may become difficult. For example, injury, disease, accidents, old age, or other situations may arise where a person finds it more difficult to walk around unassisted. To help in such situations, canes and crutches are used to help a person retain his or her mobility.
As a person uses a cane or crutches to move about, he or she often needs to temporarily store the cane or crutches to complete a separate task, to sit down, or the like. Typically, the person will attempt to store the cane or crutches in an upright position. For example, the person may lean the cane or crutches against a wall or furniture. Sometimes, despite the person's best efforts, the cane or crutches fall over. For a person with limited mobility, it can be very difficult to retrieve the cane or crutches.
For example, it has been observed that almost half of all patients having gone to an outpatient musculoskeletal clinic do so because of lumbar spine pain, a condition in the spinal column of L1-L5. Indeed, the prevalence of low back pain is increasing. For such people with limited mobility, it may be very difficult and/or painful to retrieve canes or crutches that have fallen over.
When a cane is not easily accessible, for example, because it has fallen over or is located against a wall or furniture away from the user, the chance for falling increases. According to a WHO global risk fall report, approximately 28-35% of people aged of 65 and over fall each year, increasing to 32-42% for those over 70 years of age.
Further, when the elderly bend over and naturally flex the lumbar spine, they put themselves in a position where they are prone for a herniation, or to increase the pain of an already increasing herniation, or to increase the pain from foraminal stenosis. Thus, situations where canes or crutches end up of the floor should be avoided.